2010 April: Expo News

I want to personally thank all the pizza professionals that attended this year’s International Pizza Expo®. The show was undoubtedly one of the biggest and best industry events ever held, with a show floor the size of 4½ football fields, 415 exhibiting companies and 900-plus booths all devoted to America’s favorite food. Pizzeria operators from all over the world packed the exhibit hall and seminar rooms in search of new products and information.

You could feel the excitement and electricity coming from our contest and demonstration areas, where the World Pizza Games® and International Pizza Challenge™ were being held. This year, we had a record nine world titles up for grabs. Throw in the $20,000 Mega Bucks Giveaway and the New Exhibitor Treasure Hunt, and we had nearly $60,000 in total prize money up for grabs this year. If you couldn’t attend this year’s show and were wondering who walked away with the hardware, cash and bragging rights, please make sure to read the Expo wrap-up article in the May issue of Pizza Today.

The great thing about Pizza Expo is no matter how many times you’ve attended past shows, there’s always something new you can learn or implement that will help improve your pizzeria. In fact, I know it seems a long way off right now, but it’s never too early to start making plans to attend next year’s Expo, which will be held March 1-3 at the Las Vegas Convention Center. There’s no telling what we’ll come up with to top this year’s show, but I’m sure we’ll come up with something special for 2011. In fact, if you have any ideas or suggestions on how we can improve the show, I would like to hear from you.

As always, we want you to know that we are committed to improving and increasing the number and quality of exhibits, demonstrations, events and seminars at our trade shows. You’ll see this commitment now more than ever through the pages of Pizza Today, NAPO and our e-newsletters.

When deciding on which trade show to attend, remember that general foodservice shows are precisely that … general (even if they claim to have a pizza pavilion, contests and a few pizza exhibitors). Remember, if you’re looking for new pizza products, suppliers, networking opportunities or just a few ideas on how to improve your pizzeria, then International Pizza Expo® is the ONLY show for you!